Gravure printing machines are known to have been in use in the printing industry unmatched in quality, endurance as well as versatility. Irrespective of the advent of other newer technologies like digital and flexographic printing, gravure printing machine has continued to gain popularity as a preferred machine in most high quality printing applications. In this article, we shall understand why the use of gravure printing machines still stands the test of time in the ever-changing business environment and they still remain one of the most dependable industrial printing machinery in printing high volumes.
Table of Contents
High-Quality Prints with Gravure Printing Machines
High quality prints in terms of the details and uniformity of color is one of the main advantages that gravure printing machines maintain so popular nowadays. The gravure is a process in which an image gets engraved onto a cylinder that in turn transfers the image on that cylinder to the substrate. This ink application makes the print lush and vibrant which is most suitable to print on items like packaging materials, magazines, and labels. The solid ink deposition of gravure printing equipment gives high definition output, and which resides in many other printing systems.
Gravure printing proves to be a popular style of printing regardless of whether you are printing in detail to come up with luxury packaging or in color to create high end magazines. The gravure printing machine is especially applicable in high volume products whose quality remains the same in the long run hence reliable to any large scale printing business.
Economical at High Volume Printing
The gravure printing machines are particularly economical in the high volume, large-scale production. Configuration expenses in gravure staying may be costly as opposed to such processes as flexography or computerized printing. The costs are usually countered by the efficiency and the swiftness of the process though. Gravure printing machines may operate continuously, once set up and printing plates made, and produce large amounts of printed material in high-speed operation. This is a cost-efficient method of printing, and in case of large print work, it is a very cost effective method since it saves a lot of labour cost and time wasted on set-up.
In addition to this, the gravure printing machines are characterized by the long-life printing plates that can last up to a million prints before actually requiring replacement. This stability renders this method the most suitable in such industries which involve many printed products being required like, packaging industries, newspapers and publications. In the long run, since industrial printing machines such as gravure presses are very economical in terms of productivity and do not cause a lot of ink wastage, the investment of such a printer is worth all the savings that can be made.
Flexibility in the Compatibility of Materials
The other advantage that makes gravure printing machines still remain a preferred option is the fact that they can print on extensive substrates. As compared to other expensive printing technologies that might only be compatible with certain materials, gravure printing machines can be used with a number of materials as they could be utilized using paper, plastic, foil, and even textile. Its flexibility has made it applicable to a wide range of industries i.e., food packaging, textile and commercial printing.
This is because of the versatility of gravure printing machines which enables manufacturers to print on material that have different textures and thickness. An inexperienced person would naturally think that this is a very difficult case when one has to deal with lightweight films to create flexible packaging, or, on the contrary, sturdier materials that require a lot more take-up. With the help of gravure printing, however, it is possible to achieve a consistently high-quality print on a wide range of substrates. This flexibility will be very critical when dealing with the industries where packages or product labels must be printed on the various surfaces of medium without sacrificing the quality or integrity of the picture.
Productivity in Manufacturing and Short Order Cycle Times
Time is a key component in the high volume printing industry. Gravure printing machines are the best in large volumes of printed materials in the shortest time and quality is not compromised. They are also able to fulfill large orders very quickly once the initial set up is finished. This is essential in particular to industries like food packaging and pharmaceuticals in which production schedules are tight, and time-to-market is a serious consideration.
The gravure printing machines have the ability of high speed printing with a million of impressions in an hour being the advantage, thus prone to various industries with high production rates. Moreover, the potential to be consistent and quality at these high speeds is amongst reasons that makes gravure a term enjoyed when it comes to high-volume high-quality printing. Gravure printing machines assist companies to observe strict deadlines since this type of machine helps to considerably cut production time yet the final product will be of the best quality possible.
Conclusion
Gravure printing machines remain to be a staple of the industrial printing equipment due to its incomparable quality, efficiency and flexibility. Be it to produce high volumes of printing work, to maintain quality printing, or to print on a variety of materials, the gravure printing technology can be of great choice to any company operating in the packaging industries, publishing industries, and even in the textile industries. Although newer printing technologies such as digital printing and flexographic printing do have their benefits of their own, gravure printing machine continues to remain popular because it can be used to print even vibrant and high-definition images on diverse substrates at very high speed.
Combining cost savings at large production quantities, excellent print quality and the capacity to deal with a very wide variety of materials, it seems probable that in many years we will still find the gravure printing machines in the printing industry. With the industry heightening the need to be appreciated as sustainable, the ink and plate technologies will only make the production and running of the gravure presses to be even more environmentally friendly hence being relevant in the modern printing environment.
